zounds of summer

The night might not be still young but Sydney band Dappled Cities are keeping the party going strong with their newest musical offering. Taken from their third album Zounds, 'The Night is Young at Heart' shows the ever-evolving talents of these talented lads. Kluster spoke to Dappled Cities last month about the making of the album, and this single continues the epic sound the band have brought to the table this year. If you liked their first release 'The Price', tune your ears into some more Zounds for summer.

'The Night is Young at Heart' - Dappled Cities

zounds, dappled cities

dappled cities says...

Almost three years since Granddance Sydney band, Dappled Cities are on the cusp of releasing their third album Zounds and are all set to embark on a national tour. Kluster’s Lillian Zrim chats to Ned Cooke from DC about the making of the upcoming album, living in America and craving to get in front of us Aussies again.

Lillian Zrim: Your latest album Zounds is due to be released this Saturday. It’s already been described as having an epic sound. Where did you get the inspiration?

Ned Cooke: Well, it was a very long process so inspiration came from all different sorts of places. We started writing it when we were over in America. We were all sort of living together in one little room.  So it started out as being a reaction to just being away from home and all stuck together: we were living pretty rough. Some of the more intense tracks came from that period. When we got home we were inspired by being home and having our own space again; our more chilled out tracks came after that.

LZ: And your musical influences?

NC: All sorts of stuff really, just whatever came along. David Axelrod - I think we were pretty inspired by him. We listened to quite a lot of that while we were on tour. So, on a track like ‘Wooden Ships’ there’s a bit of a 60s kind of groove-out thing. It just turned into a bit of a boiling pot; we just listened to so much music.

LZ: I understand that the album was recorded in Sydney and in New York with Chris Coady (TV On The Radio). What was the whole recording experience like?

NC: It was pretty crazy, we had really good days when we were all really productive and excited and then there were other days, when we were all clashing and stuff. So it was an intense process. But overall, the end result turned out great, so you forget the process once it all gets finished. At the time though, it was pretty full on.

'The Price' - Dappled Cities

More...

dappled cities fly, zounds

that zound sound

Sydney band, Dappled Cities, are set to release their third studio album, Zounds, next month. To mark the arrival of the album on the international music scene the band organised a little listening soiree at Kennards Storage in Surry Hills, Sydney. Yes, a storage facility.

This seemingly strange venue selection was demystified upon arrival. As it turns out, it was made to facilitate the band’s commissioning of a selection of artists, each asked to interpret one of the 11 tracks on Zounds. Each track was allotted a room inside the storage facility. The art it inspired was displayed in the room.

Guest were given a map and invited to explore, find and listen at their leisure. At the end of their exploration guests converged in a courtyard found at the centre of the Kennards, where Dappled proceeded to play the album from inside another storage room.

If their performance was anything to go by the album is bound to be a roaring success. We were particularly excited by the closer, ‘Stepshadows’. It’s the kind of track Beatrix Kiddo/Black Mamba/The Bride/Mommy would listen to while careening down the highway towards (Kill) Bill, heralding the final showdown and his inevitable demise.

It seems like only yesterday that we were talking to Dave Rennick about the creation of their second album, Granddance. My, how our boys have grown.

Dan Boud kindly provided us with some of his shots from the night. You can check them out on our new gallery.

dappled cities fly, zounds, dan boud